James Brady, former Ronald Reagan press secretary and gun control icon, dies age 73

Ronald Reagan press secretary who devoted himself to cause of better gun
controls dies more than 33 years after being wounded in presidential
assassination attempt with issue still unresolved

AP

2:50AM BST 05 Aug 2014

James Brady, the affable, witty White House press secretary who survived a devastating head wound in the 1981 assassination attempt on President Ronald Reagan and undertook a personal crusade for gun control, has died.

He was 73.

"We are heartbroken to share the news that our beloved Jim 'Bear' Brady has passed away after a series of health issues," Mr Brady's family said in a statement.

"His wife, Sarah, son, Scott, and daughter, Missy, are so thankful to have had the opportunity to say their farewells." Mr Brady suffered a bullet wound to his head outside the Washington Hilton Hotel on March 30, 1981. Although he returned to the White House only briefly, he was allowed to keep the title of presidential press secretary and his White House salary until Reagan left office in January 1989.

Mr Brady spent much of the rest of his life in a wheelchair. A federal law requiring a background check on handgun buyers bears his name, as does the White House press briefing room.

"He is somebody who I think really revolutionised this job," said Josh Earnest, President Barack Obama's current press secretary.

"And even after he was wounded in that attack on the president, was somebody who showed his patriotism and commitment to the country by being very outspoken on an issue that was important to him and that he felt very strongly about." "[He] leaves the kind of legacy ... that certainly this press secretary and all future press secretaries will aspire to live up to," Mr Earnest added.

Of the four people stuck by gunfire on March 30, 1981, Mr Brady was the most seriously wounded. A news clip of the shooting, replayed often on television, showed him sprawled on the ground as Secret Service agents hustled the wounded president into his limousine.

Mr Reagan was shot in one lung while a policeman and a Secret Service agent suffered lesser wounds.

The TV replays of the shooting did take a toll, however. He told The Associated Press years later that he relived the moment each time he saw it.

"I want to take every bit of (that) film ... and put them in a cement incinerator, slosh them with gasoline and throw a lighted cigarette in," he said.

With remarkable courage, he endured a series of brain operations in the years after the shooting.

On Nov. 28, 1995, while he was in an oral surgeon's office, Brady's heart stopped beating and he was taken to a hospital. His wife, Sarah, credited the oral surgeon and his staff with saving Mr Brady's life.

Despite Mr Brady's calls for better gun controls, the issue remains unresolved in America despite a series of recent mass-shootings, including Sandy Hook massacre when 20 kindergarteners and 6 staff were shot dead in Newtown Connecticut in December 2012.

"Jim Brady defined the role of the modern White House Press Secretary," said a statement from the White House press office. "With his passing we lost a friend and mentor, and the country lost a selfless public servant who dedicated his life to service, even in the face of tragedy. Jim always did his job with the highest integrity.

"He had a true affection and respect for the press, relished a good sparring with the front row, and was an unfailing defender of the President and the value of a free press. Jim set the model and standard for the rest of us to follow. It's been a genuine honor for each of us to stand at the podium in the briefing room that will always bear his name. Our thoughts and prayers are with Jim’s wife Sarah and his children Scott and Melissa."